Mission EC12: Series and Parallel Circuits Calculations

Mission EC12 pertains to the mathematical analysis of both series and parallel circuits. The mission consists of 24 questions organized into 6 Question Groups. You must answer one question from each Question Group to complete the mission. The learning outcomes for this mission are ...
 

Learning Outcomes

• The student should be able to identify a circuit as being either parallel or series and mathematically analyze the circuit to determine the equivalent resistance, the total circuit current, the voltage drop across each resistor, and the current through each resistor (if given the battery voltage and the resistance of each resistor).

 

Launch Mission EC12

 

Getting Help

If you are not familiar with this topic, then you should first learn about the topic using our written Tutorial or our Video Tutorial:

The Physics Classroom, Circuits Unit, Lesson 4, Part c

The Physics Classroom, Circuits Unit, Lesson 4, Part d

• How can the equivalent resistance of a series circuit be determined?
• How can the current in the battery be determined from the battery voltage and the equivalent resistance?
• How do the currents in the individual resistors of a series circuit compare to each other?
• How can the voltage drop across an individual resistor of a series circuit be determined?
• What is an effective method of mathematically analyzing a series circuit?
• How can the equivalent resistance of a parallel circuit be determined?
• How can the current in the battery be determined from the battery voltage and the equivalent resistance?
• How can the voltage drop across an individual resistor of a parallel circuit be determined?
• How can the current in the individual resistors of a parallel circuit compare be determined?
• What is an effective method of mathematically analyzing a parallel circuit?

 

Video Tutorials:

Series Circuit Analysis

Parallel Circuit Analysis

 

 

Question-Specific Help

Each Question Group has its own Help page with information specific to the question. You can access the Help page from within the mission by tapping on the Help Me! icon (textbook). For your convenience, links to those pages are provided below: